


doin' everything, tryin' to keep my cool

by thotsandfeelings



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, Secret Relationship, set during s2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:46:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25860790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thotsandfeelings/pseuds/thotsandfeelings
Summary: “I have self-control! I control myself all the time around you. I could go days, no weeks, without touching you,” Donna challenges.Josh just drops her hand, opening the door to the bar for her to walk into and says, ominous, “we’ll see about that.”
Relationships: Josh Lyman & Donna Moss, Josh Lyman/Donna Moss
Comments: 11
Kudos: 101





	doin' everything, tryin' to keep my cool

“You gonna behave tonight?” Josh asks, nudging Donna as they walk on the street lamp lit sidewalk on their way to the bar. “‘Cause that little game you were playing last weekend almost got us in trouble.”

Donna just smiles smugly and bites her lip a little. “Maybe.” She snakes an arm around his waist and pinches his side.

“Hey,” Josh exclaims, flinching. “I’m serious! CJ kept asking me if something was wrong, I had to book it out of there before I _really_ embarrassed myself.”

“Well,” Donna says, clicking her tongue, “it’s not my fault that you have so little self-control.”

“It is absolutely 100 percent your fault,” Josh argues. “And I have plenty of self-control. How do you think I’ve avoided assault and battery against the House of Representatives for the past decade and a half? _You_ , on the other hand, my friend, have zero self-control. You can’t keep your hands off of me.” Josh proves his point by grabbing her hand that had snuck into his back pocket, bringing it forward in front of them.

“That is,” Donna says, “so incredibly untrue.”

“It’s really not.”

“I have self-control! I control myself all the time around you. I could go days, no _weeks_ , without touching you,” Donna challenges. 

Josh just drops her hand, opening the door to the bar for her to walk into and says, ominous, “we’ll see about that.”

* * *

“Two Blue Moons, a Bud Light, and a Dewars neat,” Donna tells the bartender. They’re all on their third round and Donna is starting to feel a slow warmth start to seep into her veins as she turns from the bar to look at her friends. She, Josh, Charlie, and Toby had met at a bar in Georgetown after Leo and the President told everyone to get lost for the night. CJ and Sam were meeting them all later, still tying up some loose ends in the West Wing.

Donna’s eyes land on Josh as he lets out a loud bark of a laugh at something Charlie is telling him and she smiles, her heart fluttering ridiculously in her chest at the sound.

After Rosslyn, Donna had taken it upon herself to nurse Josh back to health. She had slept out on his couch for the first month, too scared to leave him alone, until one night she was startled awake by Josh yelling her name. When she’d finally been able to wake him from the nightmare, he had hauled her into the bed with him, grunting a little when she landed with a soft “oof” against his right side.

“Stay,” he’d whispered, his voice low and ragged from trying to outrun the demons chasing him in his dreams.

Donna had just swaddled him in her arms, brushing some sweat soaked hair off of his forehead and murmured, “I’m not going anywhere.”

That had been five months ago and Donna was still making good on her promise now. Once Josh had gone back to work, she’d officially given up her lease and moved in with him. They had decided not to tell anyone, Josh reasoning that they had already suffered too much over the past year, what with rogue teenage Nazi’s and hands being put through living room windows, and that they deserved this quiet, blooming _something_ happening between them. _Just_ them. Donna had been quick to agree and that’s how she finds herself now staring longingly at her boyfriend from across the bar.

“Here you go,” the bartender says, sliding a tray with their drinks on it over to Donna.

“Thanks, Meg. Put this round on my tab.” Donna grabs the tray and heads back over to the group, seeing Sam and CJ walk through the front door as she slides back into her spot between Josh and Charlie. 

Toby raises his arm, waving them over and grabs his drink, tipping it toward Donna in thanks. 

“Meg forgot the orange slices,” Charlie states and he stands back up, leaving Josh and Donna alone in the U curved booth. “I’ll be right back.”

Josh takes this as his opportunity to discreetly run his hand over Donna’s knee and she jumps a little, his fingers cold from holding his beer bottle.

“Hi,” he whispers quietly and he takes his hand away again, going to pick on the label of his drink.

“Hi.”

“How ya doin’?”

Donna raises her eyes at him. “I’m doin’ fine. How are you doin’?”

“Oh, I’m dandy,” he drawls, taking a sip of his beer.

“Dandy’s good,” Donna says, still on the verge of amused and confused on what Josh’s endgame is, but happy to play this little game with him.

“Here we go,” Charlie says as he slides back in beside Donna and she moves a little closer to Josh to make room. He throws an orange slice on the side of each of their Blue Moon glasses and hands one to her.

“I never understood why you like that stuff,” Sams says, passing CJ her Tequila Sunrise he just got from the bar, “That beer is disgusting.”

“That’s because it’s not real beer.”

“Coming from the man drinking a Bud _Light_ ,” Charlie counters, stretching across Donna to clink his glass against Josh’s bottle.

“Hey,” Josh says, a little miffed. “I asked for a whiskey on the rocks, but _someone_ ,” he nudges Donna with his shoulder, “changed my order.”

Donna sniffs, unperturbed. “You have an early meeting tomorrow. I didn’t want a repeat of the Joey Lucas mess.”

“My meeting tomorrow is with the Republican leadership. I would _gladly_ throw up on them.”

“You threw up on Joey Lucas?” CJ asks, horrified.

“No!” Josh shouts. “I only spilled a… very small amount, a _tiny_ dribble of coffee on myself. No other victims.”

“Yeah,” Donna mumbles, “coffee and stripper juices.”

“Okay," Josh says, swallowing thickly, “don’t ever say _stripper juices_ again or I’ll actually be throwing up in your lap next.”

“How was Leo?” Toby asks Sam, effectively ending the conversation. “Did he say anything else about-?”

“No, he was fine,” Sam replies. “But we really gotta get this done for him. If we just…”

But Donna had stopped paying attention to the others at the table as she felt a warm palm slide onto her knee again.

She looks up at Josh out of the corner of her eye. He was fully immersed in the topic at hand with the other Senior staffers, but he had a slight smirk to his features. She nudges his leg with her own subtly, and he responds by shifting his hand up another inch. Donna’s breath catches a little in her throat when he strokes his thumb softly against her smooth skin a couple times, desire flooding her mind for a split-second, but she re-focuses her effort on the conversation happening around her. He will _not_ win.

“Isn’t that unconstitutional?” she asks Sam a minute later, fully re-engrossed in the discussion. Sam starts reciting some vague piece of legislation and Josh’s hand starts moving again, his fingers toying with the hem of her skirt. Donna shifts a little some more, nodding at Sam, but she doesn’t dislodge Josh’s hand even as her heart rate picks up. She won’t give him the satisfaction. _She_ can control herself, unlike Josh who folded like a cheap lawn chair the second her fingernail had scraped against the inseam of his slacks last weekend when they were out to dinner with Bonnie, CJ, and Sam. He’d pushed back from the table abruptly, almost knocking over CJ’s wine, and made a mad dash with a mumbled “bathroom” thrown behind his shoulder. Donna won’t be that easy. She has discipline. She’d gone two years without touching him the way she wanted to, she could last an hour in a loud bar. 

Josh exclaims loudly at Toby, lifting his hand off of Donna’s leg to throw it in the air indignantly. He lets it fall to the top of the booth behind her head and Donna starts to breathe a secret sigh of relief at the lack of skin-to-skin contact, stopping abruptly when she feels Josh’s opposite hand creep up and take over, running even higher up and under her skirt. Donna clears her throat to cover up the small squeak that had escaped her lips when Josh, very gently, let his short nails whisper over the soft skin on her upper inner thigh.

“You okay?” CJ asks, concern for Donna lacing her voice.

“Fine,” she replies quickly and gives CJ a reassuring smile. “Just a frog in my throat.”

Donna picks up her Blue Moon again, taking a long gulp and shuffles around slightly.

Josh and Toby are now arguing over a piece of language from some obscure bill, but Donna’s attention is fully absorbed on Josh’s hand. She’s close enough to him now that his arm was around her to smell him and it was overwhelming her senses. She subconsciously leans further into him, her body starting to buzz pleasantly from the alcohol and the feel of him, and his hand moves up another inch. Her breath hitches audibly and she snatches her drink again, taking a long swig to hide any noises that might try and sneak out of her mouth.

 _Evil man_ , she thinks, and she ventures another glance at him. Josh looks down at her and just smiles fondly, but she sees nothing but pure lust in his gaze. The sadist was reveling in his torture for her and turning himself on in the process. 

Donna whips her forward, the eye contact becoming too much for her unsteady resolve against him. His fingers dance across her thigh, his hand fully encased within her skirt now and he heads toward the MotherLand. Donna clamps her things tightly around his wrist and coughs loudly.

“Donna,” CJ says, lifting an eyebrow in a silent question. 

“Huh?” Donna says eloquently, shifting from side to side again as she clears her throat some more, Josh’s palm still trapped. She accidentally bumps Charlie with her foot and she mumbles an apology, sitting up straight. “Oh. Yeah. I’m fine.”

“You sure? You seem a little twitchy,” Josh says, a mischievous grin sliding across his face as he squeezes her thigh and Donna wants to punch him. Smug bastard.

“Positive,” she almost growls back, not breaking eye contact this time. She _refuses_ to let him win.

“‘Kay,” he says simply and turns his attention back to the conversation. He deftly moves his pinky finger up, up, up until he slowly caresses the lining of Donna’s underwear. She hears his breath stutter sightly when he feels how damp she is for him, and she’s done.

“Okay!” she says loudly. “I think I’m actually gonna call it a night.” She finally grabs Josh’s hand from her skirt, squeezing half moons into his palm and nudges her way out of the booth.

“Aw, so soon?” he says, trying and failing to sound innocent.

“You should head home, too,” she says a little breathlessly, throwing her coat on and trying to calm the redness making its way up her cheeks. “Republicans bright and early, remember?” She gives him a meaningful look and he stares back, his eyes almost black with desire. “Plus,” she adds, turning from him quickly and addressing CJ, “I have to go see about a boy.”

“Ahhh, your mystery man. I should’ve known,” CJ says knowingly. “When do I get to meet the best you’ve ever had? It’s been months.”

Donna whips her head the same time as Josh does.

“ _CJ!_ ”

“ _Excuse me?_ ”

Donna groans internally. _Here we go_.

“I’m sorry,” Josh says, laughing a little incredulously, “this new guy’s the _best?_ ”

He is positively preening when she looks over at him and she rolls her eyes. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

Josh just shrugs, trying to act casual. “Hey, I’m just sayin’, we should give this man the credit he’s so clearly earned.” His wicked smile goes straight to Donna’s groin and she knows she needs to leave or she won’t be able to hold herself accountable for her actions. She needs to get him home and into their bed. _Now_.

Donna looks away from him, her body absolutely humming with need, and leans over to hug CJ goodbye. 

“I’ll split a cab with you,” he says when she ignores his earlier statement, moving out of the booth. “Wouldn’t wanna leave the Grand ‘Ol Pansyass party members waiting in the morning.” He throws on his jacket and puts a warm hand on Donna’s back, making her jump slightly, her arousal making her twitchy.

“Fine,” she mumbles, standing up straight from hugging Sam and Charlie goodbye. 

“Josh, drop her off first so you can try and get a look at this stud. I wanna know _all_ the measurements,” CJ says deviously, turning to address Donna, “So I can live vicariously through you.”

Josh is beside himself at this point, unquestionably strutting as he gathers his things and smiles at her like the cat who got the freaking canary. 

“This is why I don't tell you anything, Claudia Jean. Besides, he’s still an hour outside of the city and _you,"_ she says, tapping Josh's shoulder, "won’t be at my apartment long enough. Better luck next time. Bye, guys,” Donna says hurriedly, walking out of Josh’s reach and heading right out the front door of the bar, forgetting to close out her tab. 

“See you tomorrow,” Josh mutters to the group, eyes never leaving Donna’s retreating figure as he half runs out the door behind her and into their waiting cab.

* * *

Much later, after Josh has proven his new well-earned moniker four (yes, count ‘em, _4_ ) times, Donna is finally catching her breath while she’s draped across him. 

“We should play this game all the time,” she says, fighting a yawn.

Josh chuckles and lets his fingers draw lazy patterns up and down her spine, leaving goosebumps in their wake. “Seconded.”

She’s just about to drift off into a sated mindless slumber when she hears his soft voice in the darkness.

“You’re the best I’ve ever had too, you know.”

Donna just smiles and kisses his chest, finally letting sleep take over. 

**Author's Note:**

> I looooooooove secret relationship J/D so much and I've been reading through the Post-Ep Challenge that was posted on here and got inspired to try my own. I have another fic written/unedited set during a specific S1 episode and a smutty/angsty one set during S3. I also have some post-series drabbles and an /extremely/ smutty AU that I started today and wrote 19 pages for LOL. Does anyone else physically write out stories and then type them? I've done it since high school. For some reason my brain works better if it's sending thoughts to a pen instead of a keyboard. Let me know what you guys think and my inbox is always open for prompts. I have so much time in quarantine right now and it's really helping my creative juices to keep flowing, so I'll definitely be posting a lot. Hopefully you aren't already tired of me ;)
> 
> Title is from Hot in Here by Rascal Flatts.


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